Splunk Enterprise Certified Admin Practice Test

What is the recommended best practice for writing SNMP traps in Splunk?

1. Send them directly to the Indexer

2. Write them to a file and use the monitor input

3. Send them via email notifications

4. Use custom scripts to process them

The correct answer is: Write them to a file and use the monitor input

The recommended best practice for writing SNMP traps in Splunk is to write them to a file and use the monitor input. This approach allows for a structured and reliable way to collect SNMP traps, as it can handle a large volume of incoming data without overwhelming the indexer. By directing SNMP traps to a file, administrators gain the advantage of leveraging Splunk's file monitoring capabilities. The monitor input can be configured to watch specific log files for new entries continuously, ensuring that all traps are captured in real time. This method simplifies the management of incoming data, provides redundancy by allowing the file to store data temporarily in case of network issues, and permits logs to be parsed and indexed in a controlled manner. Alternatively, sending traps directly to the indexer might risk congestion and data loss if the indexer becomes overwhelmed. Emailing notifications can be useful for alerts but is not suitable for large volumes of trap data, as it lacks the ability to manage and index that data effectively. Using custom scripts to process SNMP traps may introduce unnecessary complexity and maintenance overhead compared to a straightforward file and monitor input approach.